PETALING JAYA (June 29, 2012): Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) reported a pre-tax profit of RM585.9 million for the financial year ended April 30, 2012 (FY12) compared with RM626 million a year ago, due mainly to lower operating profit from its marketing of consumer products and services segment.

Revenue rose marginally to RM7.1 billion from RM7 billion a year ago, mainly contributed by the group's marketing of consumer products and services, betting operations, and hotels and resorts segments.

For the fourth quarter (Q4), the group's pre-tax profit came in lower at RM70.3 million from RM182.2 million a year ago, due to lower contribution from its marketing of consumer products and services, betting operations and the share of associate companies' exceptionally high losses, particularly from the investment in Silver Bird Group Bhd, where the group equity accounted for its share of losses amounting to about RM44 million.

In addition, the previous year's corresponding quarter profit included one-off exceptional gains from disposal of investment property and investments.

"The expansion of the retail distribution division into new markets involved high initial expenses in terms of pre-operating, setting up and operating overheads, which had eroded profits during the current expansion phase. The motor distribution business, however, recorded an increase in profit for the quarter under review," BCorp said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

The gaming business recorded a lower pre-tax profit mainly due to higher prize payout in Q4, which offset gains from its property and hotels and resorts businesses.

It also saw lower revenue in Q4 of RM1.8 billion from RM1.9 billion a year ago.

For FY13, BCorp said it will focus on further developing all its business segments, in particular the marketing of consumer products and services.

"The emphasis will be on improving efficiency as well as widening their market presence. Given the cautious economic outlook, the directors are of the view that the group's performance for the current financial year will remain satisfactory," it added.

And as usual, for some business journalists, it's the pre-tax profit that matters!

Fantastic Baby!

Do they really know that taxes do matter???

So Berjaya Corp booked a 44 million loss from its investment in Silver Bird. Ouch! ( The 'sibuk' one of course would be very keen to know how much losses did LTH book for its investment in Silver Bird!)

Here's an old article dated 2007 (sorry link broken) posted on the Edge.

5-10-2007: Berjaya ups stake in Silver Bird to 14.15%
By Gan Yen Kuan

Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) has more than doubled its stake in Silver Bird Group Bhd to 14.15% after its subsidiaries acquired a total of 18.71 million shares on Sept 27 and Oct 1.

The acquisitions took place after Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) emerged as the single largest shareholder of the bread and confectionery maker, with a 23.72% stake comprising 55.65 million shares as at Sept 26.

Several filings to Bursa Malaysia on Wednesday showed that BCorp's indirect subsidiaries, namely Berjaya Sompo Insurance Bhd, Rantau Embun Sdn Bhd and Selat Makmur Sdn Bhd, acquired nine million Silver Bird shares on Sept 27, and 9.71 million on Oct 1, all from the open market.

The two transactions increased BCorp's total shareholdings in Silver Bird to 33.2 million shares.

A filing on Wednesday also showed that Silver Bird group managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook had acquired 500,000 shares, directly and indirectly on Tuesday, raising his stake in the company to 17.29%.

Yesterday, the share price of Silver Bird hit an intra-day high of RM1 before easing off to close at its historic high of 96 sen, up 17.5 sen or 22.29%. There were 14.4 million shares transacted.

Its warrants surged 50% or eight sen to close at a historic high of 24 sen, and was the most actively traded counter with the volume of 89.3 million.

The other major shareholder of Silver Bird is Australian venture capital firm CVC Ltd, which has a 12.81% stake comprising 30.06 million shares. Of the 30.06 million shares, 20 million were acquired through private placement, while 10.06 million were transferred to it from its fund manager Perkasa Normandy Managers Sdn Bhd.

That left Perkasa Normandy with 10 million Silver Bird shares at press time.

CIMB Research said in a research note yesterday that the recent development in Silver Bird appeared like "a race for control" between the major shareholders.

"SBG (Silver Bird Group Bhd) remains a trading-oriented buy as we expect a flurry of buying by the four major shareholders in a possible tussle for control that could trigger a general offer," it said.

As such, the research house raised its target price for Silver Bird to RM1 from 75 sen, as it increased the price to book value (P/BV) target to two times from 1.5 times, given that Silver Bird's share price "could bid up in the fight for control".

"As the two times P/BV is still nowhere near the current six times average for Nestle Malaysia, F&N Holdings and Dutch Lady, and the sector's historical 10-year low of 4.3 times, this suggests further upside to our target price," it added.

LTH has been accumulating Silver Bird shares since early September. The Edge Financial Daily reported last Thursday that the LTH's accumulation of a strategic stake in Silver Bird had led to analysts speculating that the latter could be used as a platform for the pilgrim fund to enter the food industry in a big way.

On that note, CIMB Research said LTH had "made no secret of its intention of going into the food business", riding on the government's efforts to promote Malaysia as the hub for halal food.

"In FY06, LTH made a net profit of RM210 million and had net cash of RM2.5 billion. Based on yesterday's (Oct 3) closing price, LTH will have to pay only RM141 million for the SBG shares it does not already own.

"We view cash-rich LTH's involvement positively as it could be adding value, and more importantly, adding credibility, to SBG, whose halal status came under scrutiny last year," it said.

While LTH was acting on its own, the research house said there was still no information as to whom Perkasa Normandy and CVC were buying the Silver Bird shares for.

acquired nine million Silver Bird shares on Sept 27, and 9.71 million on Oct 1, all from the open market.

The two transactions increased BCorp's total shareholdings in Silver Bird to 33.2 million shares.

A filing on Wednesday also showed that Silver Bird group managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook had acquired 500,000 shares, directly and indirectly on Tuesday, raising his stake in the company to 17.29%.

Yesterday, the share price of Silver Bird hit an intra-day high of RM1 before easing off to close at its historic high of 96 sen, up 17.5 sen or 22.29%. There were 14.4 million shares transacted.

Its warrants surged 50% or eight sen to close at a historic high of 24 sen, and was the most actively traded counter with the volume of 89.3 million.

The other major shareholder of Silver Bird is Australian venture capital firm CVC Ltd, which has a 12.81% stake comprising 30.06 million shares. Of the 30.06 million shares, 20 million were acquired through private placement, while 10.06 million were transferred to it from its fund manager Perkasa Normandy Managers Sdn Bhd.

That left Perkasa Normandy with 10 million Silver Bird shares at press time.

CIMB Research said in a research note yesterday that the recent development in Silver Bird appeared like "a race for control" between the major shareholders.

"SBG (Silver Bird Group Bhd) remains a Trading-oriented Buy as we expect a flurry of buying by the four major shareholders in a possible tussle for control that could trigger a general offer," it said.

As such, the research house raised its target price for Silver Bird to RM1 from 75 sen, as it increased the price to book value (P/BV) target to two times from 1.5 times, given that Silver Bird's share price "could bid up in the fight for control".

"As the two times P/BV is still nowhere near the current six times average for Nestle Malaysia, F&N Holdings and Dutch Lady, and the sector's historical 10-year low of 4.3 times, this suggests further upside to our target price," it added.

LTH has been accumulating Silver Bird shares since early September. The Edge Financial Daily reported last Thursday that the LTH's accumulation of a strategic stake in Silver Bird had led to analysts speculating that the latter could be used as a platform for the pilgrim fund to enter the food industry in a big way.

On that note, CIMB Research said LTH had "made no secret of its intention of going into the food business", riding on the government's efforts to promote Malaysia as the hub for halal food.

"In FY06, LTH made a net profit of RM210 million and had net cash of RM2.5 billion. Based on Wednesday's closing price, LTH will have to pay only RM141 million for the SBG shares it does not already own.

"We view cash-rich LTH's involvement positively as it could be adding value, and more importantly, adding credibility, to SBG, whose halal status came under scrutiny last year," it said.

While LTH was acting on its own, the research house said there was still no information as to whom Perkasa Normandy and CVC were buying the Silver Bird shares for.

LOL! They used P/BV as a comparion? ( Do you wonder why they did not do a Price Earnings comparison? ) And they actually compared Silver Bird to Nestle and Dutch Lady??

PETALING JAYA (June 27, 2012): Financially-troubled Silver Bird Group
Bhd announced a bigger net loss of RM295.3 million in the second quarter
ended April 30, 2012 (Q2) against the previous quarter's RM13.6
million, on a dip in revenue from its consumer food and
telecommunication businesses.

It posted a net profit of RM1.9 million in the year-ago period. Revenue
fell 35% to RM30.8 million for Q2 from RM47.7 million a year ago.

Despite the huge losses, Silver Bird said it will maintain the
operations of its consumer food division, which it deems to be
profitable, and will start a new business in the distribution of
U-Mobile telephone cards.

"The board is in the process of evaluating the prospects of the group in
the light of the financial irregularities, removal of its managing
director, executive director and general manager of accounts and
finance, the Practice Note 17 (PN17) status of the group as well as the
termination of the distribution agreement between Maxis Mobile Services
Sdn Bhd and Stanson Marketing Sdn Bhd," it said in a filing with Bursa
Malaysia yesterday.

Silver Bird entered into PN17 status on Feb 29 after defaulting on payments to creditors amounting to RM5.37 million.

Reviewing its Q2 results, Silver Bird said the consumer food division
recorded a revenue of RM31 million, a decline of 34% from the RM47
million a year ago, while revenue from the telecommunication business
fell to RM200,000 from RM1 million.

For the six months, Silver Bird posted a net loss of RM308.9 million
compared with a net profit of RM2.8 million a year ago, mainly due to
the financial irregularities in the consumer food division.

Revenue also declined to RM75.3 million from RM95.7 million.

Silver Bird said the financial irregularities have affected the financial results of the group for Q2.

"These financial irregularities continued into the month of February
2012, when all appropriate adjustments were made to reflect a true and
fair financial position of the group. Accordingly, the financial report
for the quarter ended April 30, 2012 must be read in the above light,"
it added.

ps: Do read the earnings note posted on Bursa Malaysia. It's a much better read, especially on how and where the losses were recorded.

PETALING JAYA: The Securities Commission (SC) has won another battle against market manipulators after the Court of Appeal decided in the regulator's favour to increase the punishment meted on former Fountain View Development Bhd director Datuk Chin Chan Leong.

“In a landmark decision, the Court of Appeal imposed a jail term of 12 months, and a fine of RM1.3mil on Datuk Chin Chan Leong for market manipulation involving Fountain View shares,” the SC said in a statement yesterday.

Chin, who pleaded guilty to shares manipulation two years ago,was initially given a one-day jail sentence and RM1.3mil fine for the offence.
“This is the third conviction for market manipulation which the SC has successfully prosecuted,” the regulator said. The other companies were Suremax Group Bhd and Actacorp Holdings Bhd.

The offence took place over a two-month period from November 2003 to January 2004 during which the price of Fountain View shares increased from RM1.99 to RM6.05, raising its market capitalisation from RM885mil to RM2.73bil.
Fountain View was listed on the Main Board of the stock exchange. The company was delisted on Sept 22, 2010 for failing to submit a regularisation plan to the SC or Bursa Malaysia within the prescribed timeframe.

Chin was charged in 2005 but had only pleaded guilty on Feb 5, 2010 to the offence of creating a misleading appearance of active trading in Fountain View shares by indirectly being concerned in transactions for the sale and purchase of those shares, which did not involve any change in beneficial ownership.

Chin was found to be trading with 20 central depository system accounts which he beneficially owned through the companies that he controlled.

The one-day jail sentence was affirmed by the High Court in September 2010 which led to an appeal by the Public Prosecutor .

The Court of Appeal held that the offence under section 84(1) of the Securities Industry Act 1983 was serious with adverse consequences on the stock market and the economy and that the earlier sentence did not reflect the gravity of the offence.

“In deciding to impose a 12-month jail term, the Court of Appeal took into account the fact that the offence committed was pre-planned and well thought out.

“The SC has been proactively pursuing this and other market misconduct cases (such as manipulation, market rigging and insider trading) because such activities severely undermine investor confidence and tarnishes the reputation of the Malaysian capital market,” the SC said, adding that it would continue to be vigilant and take whatever action necessary to protect investors and to maintain a fair and orderly capital market.

Over the years, there had been a number of account mismanagement and share manipulation court cases. Among them were Kenmark Industrial Co (M) Bhd, Granasia Corp Bhd, Kiara Emas Asia Industries Bhd, Idris Hydraulic (M) Bhd, Aokam Perdana Bhd and Ekran Bhd.

In the case of troubled furniture company Kenmark, its Taiwanese managing directors and key management personnel went missing in May 2010. In June 2010, one Datuk Ishak Ismail emerged as a 32% shareholder, but sold all his shares two weeks later. The SC alleged that he had committed insider trading.

In the case of Granasia Corp Bhd, in March 2010, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court convicted Chan Kok Suan, the former managing director of Granasia for submitting false statements to the SC, namely the revenue and profit after tax of the company for the year ended Dec 31, 2002.

The information was submitted in connection with Granasia's proposal to list on the main board of the stock exchange.

Chan was convicted under section 32B(4) of the Securities Commission Act and imposed a fine of RM500,000 in default, 10 months imprisonment, according to the SC. He was charged on Feb 9, 2006 and pleaded guilty on March 1, 2010.

According to reports, the prosecution had filed an appeal against the sentence to the High Court.

Take Telekom or TM. The stock had appeared to have a normal trading day. It opened trading at 5.52 and close the day down 9 sen at 5.42. Nothing out of ordinary until one inspects how the stock closed the day down 9 sen.

As you can see the sudden plunge of the stock right at the closing bell. Look below at how the stock was trading at 16:44:12. Stock was trading at 5.50 just before the last trade closing. Then somehow the market decided that the stock should trade some 16 bids lower at 5.42! 16 bids lower!

Want another one? Let's look at another one, BAT I will just post the 5 mins intraday chart and just like FN, BAT plunged at the close!

And DIGI plunged too at the closing bell.

And then Media? It decided to do something different. It had an incredible upwards surge during the morning!!!

At 10:02:20 the stock was trading at 2.36. Five seconds later at 10:02:24, the stock went down to 2.27. And within the same second, the stock tracker showed the stock had jumped back up in a flash to 2.40. WOAHHHH!!!!

And IT wasn't done! Look below.

The very last second of 10:02 or at 10:02:59, the stock has surged to 2.78!!

So at 10:02, in that 60 seconds, the stock went from 2.36 to 2.27 to 2.78!!!!

Oh yeah... What the hell!

And the party ended just as fast. At 10:03:42, the stock went from 2.78 to 2.41!!!!

Holy cow!

Here's KLK. It did its crashing right early in the morning trade!

IOI went straight up just before closing.

Nestle? Nestle just went up straight up like crazy in the morning trade.

I really can go on and on. What one will see is a sudden gap up or down (with heavy volume too) in the stock trading.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Spain. 4-6-0? I see them struggling. How could they start a match without a striker? Torres hasn't the best of season with Chelsea despite winning the Champions League. His confidence level is probably low and here we have the Spanish coach, starting without a striker. What a message sent out to Torres. This is like telling him that Fab is a better option. A midfielder playmaker is better playing a striker than him. And when Torres finally came on as sub, his confidence level is clearly down a couple of notches. What an own goal. I see them struggling.

Germany. They woke up and they looked good. Schweinsteiger was awesome. Really awesome. And Germany now have Super Mario! They now look much stronger than the Spanish.

Italy: I thought Cassano was superb. Credit should also go to Pirlo. I think this team can go far.

Portugal. Oh Ronaldo.....

England. I thought their bus was well parked. Scott Parker was immense. I lost count how many times he put his body in the line. That's what you called playing for their country unlike the Dutch. First time, England look more organised. Boring but with a solid defense and solid organisation can go far. But they lack the bus conductor - the playmaker.

KUALA LUMPUR: Octagon Consolidated Bhd's share price fell sharply on Monday after it was declared an affected listed when it defaulted on the credit facility extended by Amanah Raya Capital Sdn Bhd.

At 11.25am, it was down four sen to 4.5 sen. There were 4.79 million shares done.

However, the FBM KLCI was up 9.03 points to 1,579.65. Turnover was 260.99 million shares valued at RM406.51mil. There were 277 gainers, 196 losers and 247 counters unchanged.

Last Friday, Octagon announced had defaulted on the payment and it expected this would have substantial impact on its business, operations and financials of Octagon.

It cautioned the coatings business turnover might be reduced as existing customers could defer new orders.

Other factors were that the material suppliers might request for cash payments for purchases while debtors might likely to prolong the payment of receivables and bankers may recall of existing trade facilities.

Since it has been classified as a Practice Note 17, it had to announce within three months whether the regularisation plan would result in a significant change in its business direction or policy.

KUALA LUMPUR: KNM Group Bhd’s proposed US$222 million (RM706 million) waste-to-energy projects in Sri Lanka awarded by Octagon Consolidated Bhd may encounter obstacles as the latter undergoes a restructuring under Section 176, announced two weeks ago.

This is in anticipation that Octagon will not have adequate funds to finance its projects in Sri Lanka as the company restructures its debt, said analysts. The impact could be substantial for KNM as the RM706 million job accounts for about 20% of the process equipment manufacturer’s RM3.2 billion order book, added the analysts.

“However, we believe KNM could still at least maintain its 1Q results in the coming quarters,” TA Securities Holdings Bhd analyst Kylie Chan told The Edge Financial Daily over the telephone.

Chan said KNM had finalised most of its “kitchen-sinking exercise” which included provisions for doubtful debts and foreseeable losses in 2011. She added that KNM is starting on a “clean slate” for FY12 ending Dec 31.

TA Securities’ RM3.2 billion order book estimates for KNM exclude the £450 million (RM2.2 billion) EnergyPark Peterborough waste-to-energy project in the UK. The project, announced in December 2010, has yet to secure financial closure. Including EnergyPark Peterborough, KNM’s order book comes to RM5.4 billion, while its project tenders amount to RM16 billion, said Chan.

KNM officials could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.

Two weeks ago, the High Court of Malaya approved Octagon’s application for legal protection against bankruptcy. This comes in the form of an ongoing three-month restraining order between May 16 and Aug 13 this year.

The restraining order follows Octagon’s announcement in December 2011 of its debt restructuring scheme which may include a proposed capital reduction and debt settlement with the company’s lenders.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, Octagon said it was not able to fulfil its debt obligations due to “obstacles and prolonged delays” in getting policymakers’ consent for the implementation of its projects.

In October 2011, Octagon awarded two waste-to-energy projects in Sri Lanka with a combined value of US$222 million to KNM. They were the construction of a US$22 million advanced thermal gasification reactor and a US$200 million waste-to-energy facility in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo.

KNM’s latest financials have improved on a stronger order book and higher revenue recognition from its projects. Net profit in 1Q rose 84% to RM35.05 million from a year ago while revenue was up 42% to RM585.83 million.

The group is now undertaking oil sand projects in Canada, where oil majors have pumped in more investments.

OSK Research analyst Jason Yap, who downgraded KNM shares to “neutral” from “trading buy”, said the neutral recommendation was by virtue of uncertainty over KNM’s ability to consistently maintain its financial performance.

According to Yap, the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe may curb crude oil demand and delay global oil and gas projects. At the same time, he is also mindful that KNM will still have to compete with rival process equipment producers from China and South Korea for more jobs.

Yap said the Chinese and South Korean players are operating on excess capacity and may slash prices at the expense of profit margins, hence, posing a threat to KNM’s competitiveness in the global market.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

The diminutive midfield playmaker named Andrey Arshavin. What a show by Arshavin! He was utterly outsanding as Russia totally outclassed the Czechs 4-1. Arsene, Arshavin has shown again that he is not a winger. Why didn't you play Arshavin in the center? Playing him on the wings simply killed the wizard in Andrey!

And Szczesny's two moment of utter of blundering madness? This could cost the Poles dearly. If not for the lame penalty, the Greeks should have pulled a stunning comeback victory despite playing with only 10 man! Again Szczesny's blunders totally typifies Arsenal defensive woes. Hello Arsene!

2 games 7 goals! Woahhh! Surprised? Me? Loving it!

Day 2: Zzzzzzzz!!!

Denmark 1 Holland 0. What a upset! What a cool finish by Michael Krohn-Dehli.The Danes had never beaten the Dutch for 43 years and early on, it looked like Dutch would win as the Dutch had all the ball and dominated the game but they just didn't take their chances. Terrible finishing by the Dutch. Glad to see the Dutch try to play a little bit of football.

Germany 1 Portugal. German fans should by ashamed of themselves. Paper balls? Grow up! CR7 was rather disappointing. And the Germans weren't too convincing in their victory either. They just didn't look like the tournament's 2nd favourites.

Day 3: 4-6-0??!! and Super Mario!

Spain vs Italy: Seriously? Spain playing with no strikers? 4-6-0 formation? No faith with Torres?

Spain 1 Italy 1. Italy was far the better team for me. They should have won. Cassano was superb and Mario? No Super Mario in this match. A petulant Mario? Yes. Spain was seriously lacking. They looked tired and out of ideas. Do they think they can win a third major championship, playing without a striker. Incredibly Torres decided to proof his coach right when he come on as a sub. Nice miss Torres!

Ireland 1 Crotia 3. Fell asleep. Apparently Crotia has a Super Mario playing for them! And I was expecting a nil-nil draw.

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Analysts say there were letdowns from companies in the plantation, oil-and-gas, transport, steel and gaming sectors

MALAYSIA'S corporate earnings in the first quarter, though largely within expectations, were weaker than the previous quarter, prompting analysts to turn cautious and lower their growth expectations for the year.

Analysts said there were letdowns from companies in the plantation, oil-and-gas, transport, steel and gaming sectorsbut positive surprises from those in the financial and insurance sector.

"Despite elements of seasonality in the just-concluded reporting season, there was a greater number of earnings misses among the big caps," said OSK Research.

OSK noted that its upgrade-to-downgrade ratio for companies in the quarter slipped to 0.5 times - implying two downgrades in earnings for every upgrade - from the previous quarter's high of 0.9 times.

"The downgrades appear to be more apparent among the big caps (three downgrades for every upgrade), indicating that analysts are turning more cautious going into the second half of this year, with potential delays in holding the general election and the protracted woes in the eurozone," it said in a report yesterday.

Three months ago, the outlook had seemed more bullish, buoyed by expectations of a rosier economic outlook.

RHB Research said corporate earnings remained weak in the first quarter in tandem with the moderating economic growth.

Of the 108 companies that the research house tracks, 53.7 per cent reported earnings within its expectations, 30.6 per cent below expectations and 15.7 per cent above.

"Indeed, this set of results was slightly worse than the previous results reporting season where 29.2 per cent of the earnings were below our forecasts and 22.1 per cent above our expectations," it said.

It cut its 2012 earnings growth forecast of the FBM KLCI stocks in its coverage to 10.7 per cent, compared with 12.2 per cent two months before.

"Overall, top line growth was weak, given the slowing economic growth that has translated to weak sales and utilisation rates for some companies under our coverage.

"This, coupled with the continuing trend of higher costs, resulted in falling margins for many companies under our coverage," it said.

The weaker corporate earnings growth momentum, coupled with a slowing economy and uncertainties over how Europe's debt crisis will pan out, means the stock market will likely be stuck in a range-bound trading pattern until new catalysts emerge.

"We believe the market pullback that we have seen thus far may not be over and we expect the market to mire in a correction and consolidation mode at least until after the new Greek election on June 17," RHB said.

OSK said there were enough reasons for investors to stay defensive while positioning for rebound trades in the event of a sharp pullback in the local market.

Still, it believes the upcoming listing of two major initial public offerings, namely Gas Malaysia Bhd and Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, should provide near-term catalysts and support for the FBM KLCI.

I really wonder how Business Times decided that 'Malaysia Q1 corporate earnings within expectations' was the best fitting headline describing Q1 corporate earnings.

PETALING JAYA (June 4, 2012): The season for reporting first-quarter 2012 earnings ended last week, with disappointing corporate results and lukewarm assessments of the year ahead.

Alliance Research Sdn Bhd said the Q1 results showed that the much-hoped-for earnings improvement in 2012 remained a pipe-dream as 34% of stocks monitored by it reported earnings below consensus estimates, a marked increase over the 24% negative earnings surprises for the fourth-quarter 2011 earnings season.

The percentage of results coming in within expectation also fell from 56% to 49%, while the percentage of positive earnings surprises dipped from 20% to 17%, it said in a report last Friday.

"Q1 earnings season was a disappointment on two counts. Firstly, negative earnings surprises have increased given widespread earnings disappointment seen in the automotive, aviation, gaming, plantation, shipping and timber sectors.

"Secondly, the nascent earnings upgrade momentum since beginning of 2012 has reversed course with consensus earnings for the FBM KLCI being cut by 0.8% for 2012 and 0.4% for 2013, led by the plantation and gaming sectors," said Alliance.

Despite a recent rebound in the benchmark FBM KLCI, the research firm believes the respite may be short-lived given overwhelming headwinds such as a heightening concern over the eurozone debt crisis as well as the impending 13th general election (GE). The FBM KLCI has rebounded by 3.2% since hitting a recent low of 1,532.46 points on May 18.

"We believe the stock market will consolidate in Q3 before staging a recovery in Q4 when there is more clarity on whether Greece will trigger a global credit crunch by exiting the eurozone, the extension of fiscal and monetary easing policies in US which are expiring by mid-2012, and the political landscape in Malaysia post-GE," said Alliance.

Its end-2012 FBM KLCI target remains unchanged at 1,630 points, which is pegged to a mean price-to-earnings valuation of 15 times. The FBM KLCI closed 7.08 points lower at 1,573.59 on Friday.

"We are maintaining our sector calls as we continue to overweight banking, construction, consumer, gaming, oil and gas (O&G), and retail REIT which are beneficiaries of resilient domestic consumption and government spending," it said.

Meanwhile, the sectors which had contributed to negative earnings surprises in Q1 were automotive due to weak demand, aviation due to high fuel cost, gaming due to poor luck factor and higher costs, plantation on lower production due to tree stress, shipping due to low rates and weak demand, and timber due to low prices.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas sector has been a mixed bag, with fabricators posting positive earnings surprises and vessel players, negative earnings surprises.

"The only clear-cut outperforming sector was consumer with firm demand growth almost across the board," said Alliance.